Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

My favourite thing is they used the same setting as Honor's Veil, one of my favourite 1e adventures.

Indeed, it's as if the PCs turn up 3 weeks later. In "Death at Kyotei Castle", they arrive in time to identify the murderer and do something about it; in "Wedding at Kyotei Castle", we get the results of the murder unsolved.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

My favourite thing is they used the same setting as Honor's Veil, one of my favourite 1e adventures.

This is basically a straight update and re-do of "Murder at Kyotei Castle" scenario from Honor's Veil, back in 1st Edition. And no, the title is not a spoiler, since the scenario has undergone a significant revision.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I'm really glad this was made available - I recall people speaking highly of it, and I do like the Honour's Veil adventure (the Bushido series struck me as the most interesting).

Added to the Topaz Championship, In The Palace Of The Emerald Champion, and Dark Tides (plus Path of the Ronin if you have it and Mask of the Oni announced), FFG are providing a pretty impressive stock of pre-generated material. Playing through them in order could be interesting - meeting another member of the Doji ruling family (having previously met his wife) helps tie the players to the named hierarchy floating around 'above' them

"Damasu no Akodo Maeda" - doesn't seem to line up with the format of Vassal Family names from Outsiders; "Isawa Kosori no Kaito".

I thought 'no' in a Japanese (and hence Rokugani) name was the equivalent of de or Von - meaning the bit after it should be the specifics of precisely where in Akodo or Isawa lands you were from.

Although I guess 'Damasu of Akodo' (since the listener might not have heard of the Damasu or know you're an Akodo vassal) also works.

Quote

Feel free to metagame and have Ozuru react to the players’ table-talk in a way that would set the players and PCs at maximum unease.

I don't know what you mean...

Quote

Sling: Range 2–3, Damage 3, Deadliness 3, Concealable, Mundane

That's new - and worth noting as an option if dealing with bandits or querulous peasants.

I do like the fact that this is an 'official' background-writing event - I like the fact that the LCG players get to drive the plot of the setting, and I hope there will be similar future event for RPGs too.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I'm really glad this was made available - I recall people speaking highly of it, and I do like the Honour's Veil adventure (the Bushido series struck me as the most interesting).

Added to the Topaz Championship, In The Palace Of The Emerald Champion, and Dark Tides (plus Path of the Ronin if you have it and Mask of the Oni announced), FFG are providing a pretty impressive stock of pre-generated material. Playing through them in order could be interesting - meeting another member of the Doji ruling family (having previously met his wife) helps tie the players to the named hierarchy floating around 'above' them

"Damasu no Akodo Maeda" - doesn't seem to line up with the format of Vassal Family names from Outsiders; "Isawa Kosori no Kaito".

I thought 'no' in a Japanese (and hence Rokugani) name was the equivalent of de or Von - meaning the bit after it should be the specifics of precisely where in Akodo or Isawa lands you were from.

Although I guess 'Damasu of Akodo' (since the listener might not have heard of the Damasu or know you're an Akodo vassal) also works.

Unfortunately that seems to be the standard they are mostly using. Seeing Damasu no Akodo isolated on a page really grated on my ears.

That is not Damasu of Akodo, it's Akodo of Damasu. I really wish that if they were going to use faux-Japonese at least they could respect the grammar or be consistent on the faux-grammar. If Damasu was a placename it would be less awkward, like a mention to a collateral branch established at that location, but Rokugan doesn't seem to derive family names from places.

I like Robert Denton's convention better, but I think I'll use Head Family no Vassal Family Personal Name when necessary. This way the major names are more like Uji names and the vassal names are akin to Myoji.

The Status rank of the Tsume samurai is also all over the place. Or rather it's not they are all status 39 despite their different standings. Nasu Shizuma is higher status than either his lord or the lord of Nikesake, Shiba Katsuda. Id' probably bump Takashi to Status 65 like Katsuda and drop Shizuma to 45-50...

This makes Maeda's plan to marry Takashi a bit odd, but eh, she can just force Takashi to renounce his title.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

"Damasu no Akodo Maeda" - doesn't seem to line up with the format of Vassal Family names from Outsiders; "Isawa Kosori no Kaito".

I thought 'no' in a Japanese (and hence Rokugani) name was the equivalent of de or Von - meaning the bit after it should be the specifics of precisely where in Akodo or Isawa lands you were from.

Although I guess 'Damasu of Akodo' (since the listener might not have heard of the Damasu or know you're an Akodo vassal) also works.

The Japanese "no" is more a possessive equivalent to the 's of English. Minamoto no Yoshitsune means "The Minamoto family's Yoshitsune."

The proper way to parse the character names are "The Damasu family's Akodo Maeda," and "The Tsume family's Doji Takashi," (the Daidoji name on page 21 is an error) The adventure NPC names are setup (Vassal Family) no (Personal Name).

Isawa Kosoro no Kaito doesn't actually parse properly unless you were talking about Kosoro's vassal family. Isawa no Kaito Kosoro or Kaito no Isawa Kosoro would be the proper methods depending on which family you wanted to emphasize prior to the Kaito becoming a non-vassal family.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The Japanese "no" is more a possessive equivalent to the 's of English. Minamoto no Yoshitsune means "The Minamoto family's Yoshitsune."

The proper way to parse the character names are "The Damasu family's Akodo Maeda," and "The Tsume family's Doji Takashi," (the Daidoji name on page 21 is an error) The adventure NPC names are setup (Vassal Family) no (Personal Name).

Isawa Kosoro no Kaito doesn't actually parse properly unless you were talking about Kosoro's vassal family. Isawa no Kaito Kosoro or Kaito no Isawa Kosoro would be the proper methods depending on which family you wanted to emphasize prior to the Kaito becoming a non-vassal family.

Thanks!

I don't (obviously) have any practical Japanese beyond generic hello/goodbye/please/thank you/HEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!! trivialities, so it's good for someone to explain.

I've therefore no objection to any specific order, it was more the fact that it wasn't consistent between the two usages.

Given an explanation of the meaning, I can see either version working - "The Isawa Family's Kaito Kosoro" or "The Kaito Family's Isawa Kosoro", as you say, depending (like so much in Rokugan) on subtext.

If I remember someone's explanation in another thread, whether you're in Isawa lands (or at least Phoenix lands) might be a big driver - if you're in Isawa lands and are introducing 'Kaito Kosoro' to another Phoenix you don't really need the rider "of the Isawa's vassal family" because you can assume the other party knows that, and equally claiming the name 'Isawa' when you're not really entitled to it is a bigger deal since drawing a distinction between Kaito and actual Isawa is more important.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I just read through the document, and I do agree that there's some weird errors in there. It especially seems that FFG has a recurring issue with naming NPC's correctly. On page 22, they even forgot to use proper naming conventions by writing Takashi Tsume, instead of Tsume Takashi. I also find it funny that they mention Soshi Izura in the article, while he's named Soshi Ozuru in the adventure. It's a shame they don't put more focus on consistency in a setting that basically thrives on names. Sure, it's just details.... but still.

Now, as for the adventure itself, I like what I've seen. Can't wait to try this out with some friends. I do think that the adventure would benefit more from party conflict than cooperative play, though. Especially if the group consists of both a Crane and a Lion PC.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

1) I just read through the document, and I do agree that there's some weird errors in there. It especially seems that FFG has a recurring issue with naming NPC's correctly. On page 22, they even forgot to use proper naming conventions by writing Takashi Tsume, instead of Tsume Takashi. I also find it funny that they mention Soshi Izura in the article, while he's named Soshi Ozuru in the adventure. It's a shame they don't put more focus on consistency in a setting that basically thrives on names. Sure, it's just details.... but still.

2) Now, as for the adventure itself, I like what I've seen. Can't wait to try this out with some friends. I do think that the adventure would benefit more from party conflict than cooperative play, though. Especially if the group consists of both a Crane and a Lion PC.

1) I'm really not impressed by the editing standards FFG has displayed. The Star Wars material seems to be a bit better, no idea if that being a licenced IP from an IP owner with a reputation for fairly tight oversight makes the difference, but the 5th ed L5R core book is really poorly edited.

2) In previous editions party conflict due to having PCs from different clans could be a lot of fun - it helps the setting come alive and drives roleplaying. In this edition it's even better though, since it can tie directly into the core narratives of ninjo vs giri and strife. And with how different PCs might balance their ninjo and giri differently, the potential for tension between characters from the same clan or even family is more interesting and meaningful too. It's a key aspect of this edition, it's really what makes it a narrative RPG too. I'm very open to party conflict and I make sure to add the potential for it when I prep sessions in previous editions, but in this one I definitely push it further. It's still up to the players of course, I'm not forcing them to do things they don't want to. It's great if FFG pays attention to this in their modules.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Now, as for the adventure itself, I like what I've seen. Can't wait to try this out with some friends. I do think that the adventure would benefit more from party conflict than cooperative play, though. Especially if the group consists of both a Crane and a Lion PC.

Historically, the "Bushido" adventures have always been very interesting, especially those which encourage party-conflict - or at least party-energetic-debate - because there's no right answer.

It's stories like that which make the difference from a D&D-esque "bad guys over there, go kill they faces because they have fangs and level-appropriate treasure"